Grievers - Reflecting Evil
Grievers are a melodic death metal band from Italy who began in 2008. 'Reflecting Evil' is their recent debut and features plenty of catchy rhythms and evil growls that reminiscence older Amorphis and Unleashed. The album opens with "Universe" which feels like it has a bit of a thrash tinge to the crunching riffs and hectic speed; the melodic solo guitar bits don't really show up until the later tracks. The vocals are either deep throaty roars or a bit more on the more shrieking side along the lines of bands such as Duskfall. "An Untruthful Shape" is the first to display a solo and it is displayed FANTASTICALLY. With a rapid opoening and then a more lengthier holding of chords, Grievers really know how to play their instruments. The melodic bits tends to stay throughout but overall the song is still with that chugging formation of the earlier track.
"Concept Of Wisdom" has an excellent balance of melody and heaviness. This is where the blend of Amorphis and Unleashed is really seen in how the riffs are performed along with a layering of the vocals, which produce an ever darker effect than just the two vocals performing on their own. "Reflecting Evil" is a bit more of the same with a heavily melodic beginning, but the chugging is more prominent here again. Unfortunately the vocals take a bit of a turn for the unpleasant as the shrieking parts tend to sound more high pitched and strained, like that of Maurizio of Katalysm. They don't suit the music very well at all; might as well stick to the growls. However, "Something Beyond" puts things back into place, even if it is more of a chugger than melodic solo song.
Leave it to "One God In The Space"- another finely melodic death track- to close things off and listeners are left with a pretty good impression. Grievers don't really do anything new for the genre, but fans of artists from Nuclear Blast records or Century Media will enjoy a band such as this. 'Reflecting Evil' has some pretty thoughtful lyrics that may not always be conveyed in the music (death metal is always hard to understand) but combined it is pretty enjoyable, especially with only two years after formation. Some bands take longer and produce worse stuff. Melodic death heads should definitely check this out if they enjoy the type that is based more on guitar melody than keyboards or a trade off of clean/ harsh vocals.
"Concept Of Wisdom" has an excellent balance of melody and heaviness. This is where the blend of Amorphis and Unleashed is really seen in how the riffs are performed along with a layering of the vocals, which produce an ever darker effect than just the two vocals performing on their own. "Reflecting Evil" is a bit more of the same with a heavily melodic beginning, but the chugging is more prominent here again. Unfortunately the vocals take a bit of a turn for the unpleasant as the shrieking parts tend to sound more high pitched and strained, like that of Maurizio of Katalysm. They don't suit the music very well at all; might as well stick to the growls. However, "Something Beyond" puts things back into place, even if it is more of a chugger than melodic solo song.
Leave it to "One God In The Space"- another finely melodic death track- to close things off and listeners are left with a pretty good impression. Grievers don't really do anything new for the genre, but fans of artists from Nuclear Blast records or Century Media will enjoy a band such as this. 'Reflecting Evil' has some pretty thoughtful lyrics that may not always be conveyed in the music (death metal is always hard to understand) but combined it is pretty enjoyable, especially with only two years after formation. Some bands take longer and produce worse stuff. Melodic death heads should definitely check this out if they enjoy the type that is based more on guitar melody than keyboards or a trade off of clean/ harsh vocals.
- Universe
- An Untruthful Shape
- Concept Of Wisdom
- Born Again
- Reflecting Evil
- Something Beyond
- Living Paradox
- One God In The Space
Punishment 18 Records
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Nov 24, 2010
Nov 24, 2010
Next review:
Starve - Wasteland
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